In the paper, Sarah Pospos, MD, from the University of California San Diego, and colleagues note that 24% to 54% of healthcare professionals experience burnout, but only a minority seek treatment. The researchers cite cost, lack of time, and concerns regarding stigma, potential career implications, and confidentiality as contributing factors.

Maintaining electronic medical records is one of the major factors contributing to physician burnout in Canada and the U.S. (Canadian Medical Association Journal Nov. 2017; 189(45):E1405-E1406). This type of documentation along with speaking engagements, teaching commitments, and familial duties are just some of the multiple responsibilities that physicians manage outside of direct patient care.

While burnout affects physicians from every walk of life, a survey of more than 15,000 physicians from 29 specialties sheds light on how it breaks down by gender. In the survey, 48 percent of female physicians reported burnout, compared with 38 percent of their male peers.

Burnout is plaguing the culture of medicine and is linked to several primary causes including long work hours, increasingly burdensome documentation, and resource constraints. Beyond these, additional emotional stressors for physicians are involvement in an adverse event, especially one that involves a medical error, and malpractice litigation. The authors argue that it is imperative that health care institutions devote resources to programs that support physician well-being and resilience